GCN Lab Review: Panasonic Toughbook 19

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THE TOUGHBOOK LINE has become almost synonymous with ruggedlaptop PC use in government. And the Toughbook 19 continues thisfine line in the form of a convertible tablet computer. Most peoplewill probably use the Toughbook 19 as a tablet, but they will havethe security blanket of a keyboard along for the ride.

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In terms of ruggedness, almost nothing can beat the Toughbook19, which is a real feat given that in its tablet format, its huge,10.4-inch glass pane faced directly at the plywoodover- concretefloor when dropped from 48 inches. After the drops, the Toughbooknever blinked, and in the end, it was the plywood that ended upworse for wear.

It also conquered the GCN rain forest environment, in whichtemperatures averaged 120 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity wasnear 100 percent most of the time. It came out dripping wet, butwith no damage at all.

The Toughbook 19 has a good form factor at 10.7 inches long by8.5 inches wide. It's 1.9 inches thick when the screen isfolded down over the keyboard in tablet mode. The system weighs 5.1pounds, not counting the power cords.

It was not perfect, however. Its Intel Core Duo U7500 Processorbacked by 1G of SDRAM was able to score only 323.7 on the PassmarkPerformance Test benchmarks, which is a little slow. You mightnotice files taking a bit longer to load than you are used to insome cases, though not by a huge amount.

Also, an optical drive does not come standard with the Toughbook19, though an external one is available as an accessory. We wouldprefer to see the optical drive placed inside the protectiveToughbook 19 shell. Finally, the keyboard is a little on the smallside ' though this isn't really much of an issuebecause this is more for backup on the convertible tablet.

The Toughbook 19 might not win any performance races, but ifyour job requires a tablet computer that can survive in a harsharea, you won't find a tougher piece of equipment.